1. Do you have a special place where you gather your thoughts and ideas for a new story?

I keep idea files in all of my notebooks (and as a stationery fan I have a lot of notebooks). Going over them I usually find something to work with. Brainstorming in bed also works well: I think up idea after idea until I have something I think I can build a series around (as a cozy mystery author I usually sell series, not standalone books)

2. How do you decide on titles for your books?

My first Lady Alkmene, A Proposal To Die For, was bought by HarperCollins UK off a special submission call where stories had to start with a proposal. So the title suggested itself to me quite naturally. It's amazing when you can come up with a title that conveys the concept in just a few words: my second Country Gift Shop Mystery is called Grand Prize: Murder!

3. What's the strangest thing you've been inspired by?

A theory recurring throughout the centuries, shared by Sir David Attenborough in his show Natural Curiosities about the history of zoology, that swallows didn't leave the country in winter but survived under water. Experiments conducted during those times, actually immersing swallows, however, inevitably ended with dead birds (poor creatures!). It confronted me with the fact that nowadays we can look up everything on the internet but back then people sometimes didn't have a clue and that lack of knowledge or rather the circulating of extraordinary ideas inspired me to write my Victorian mystery series about zoology, launching in August with The Butterfly Conspirary, about a lecture that ends in the mysterious death of one of the participants.

4. Is there one of your books in particular that you consider the pride of your collection?

Of my already published books Fatal Masquerade, Lady Alkmene book 4, is my favourite. It has everything: masked ball setting, conniving servants, sinister guests and of course a twisty mystery. Readers have also rated it highest of all Lady Alkmenes and even of all my mysteries published so far, so my love of it is shared!

5. Have you created a character who is the fictional version of you?

Not one-hundred percent, but I think all my heroines have a few things in common: they are fiercely loyal to the people they care for, they are persistent and complete what they start, and they love the good things in life whether it's nice clothes, books or sweet treats.